Back on track in classroom, Jones impressing

He was one of the top 10 high school quarterbacks in the country and someone compared to Donovan McNabb.

He earned grades and board scores high enough to be offered scholarships by Stanford and Duke.

Three months after arriving on campus, he starred in the Blue-White Game and looked to have a shot at starting as a true freshman.

But Paul Jones lost his way and spent much of the last two years living in shame.

He'd go home to McKees Rocks and be too embarrassed to see his friends. He'd watch Penn State home games from the sideline in street clothes and sneak out a side exit so nobody would see him.

"Yeah, I was depressed," Jones said Saturday. "I'm not gonna lie. I spent a lot of time crying, a lot of time feeling bad for myself. I try having a thick skin about people saying stuff, but at the end of the day I'm still a kid and it definiitely hurt."

So what went wrong? How did he end up being academically ineligible the last two seasons?

Jones admits he spent too much time playing Xbox in his dormitory room and going to parties and not enough time studying for exams and writing papers.

Now, though, he's getting high marks in the classroom and on the football field. With his powerful arm, his thick body and his quick feet, he's the most intriguing candidate among the three scholarship quarterbacks on the roster competing to be the starter in the fall.

"Paul Jones has gotten better every single day," Penn State coach Bill O'Brien said after the Blue-White Game. "I'll keep between he and I what he needs to do to win the starting job. He made a lot of strides this spring. He's doing better in school.

"I've really enjoyed being around Paul Jones."

Almost everyone likes him, or he else he wouldn't still be at Penn State.

Former Nittany Lions head coach Joe Paterno and former quarterbacks coach Jay Paterno knew Jones has abundant talent and an engaging personality. Last June, Jay Paterno suggested to Jones that he could transfer to a junior college to improve his academic habits and then return to Penn State.

"I was outside of my body and thinking, 'I can't believe I let myself get in this situation,' " he recalled. "On the way home I started thinking, 'I'm going to take the easy way and go to a junior college.'

"I love every single one of my teammates here. It'd be hard to find another bond like that, so I decided to stay."

Jones was a good student at Sto-Rox High, where he said he took copious notes and earned high marks. He said his poor grades at Penn State resulted from his frustration after being told that he'd be redshirted before the 2010 season.

"Forget it," he told himself then. "I came here to play football and they took football away from me so I'm not going to do schoolwork."

With newfound maturity and urgency, he regained his eligibility this semester with, according to him, B's in all of his classes.

"I didn't even look at my syllabi before," Jones said. "Now they're literally hanging right above my face. I can't go to sleep without looking at them and making sure I have my work done. I'm in the academic center every day."

He made a few dazzling throws in the Blue-White Game and also overthrew a few receivers on plays that could have been touchdowns. Even those misses couldn't get him down Saturday.

"Coming off the bus all the emotions hit me," Jones said. "I was actually holding shoulder pads and a helmet this time rather than just walking around with my head down feeling bad for myself.

"I saw my family and gave them all kisses. While I was holding my mom, I had to remember I was about to play football because I was about to start crying. I'm just happy to be able to play again."